The American Spectator, led by magazine founder and editor in chief R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., publisher Alfred S. Regnery and managing editor Amy K. Mitchell, will celebrate its 40th anniversary tomorrow evening with a politically star-studded black-tie gala at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

The honorary dinner chairman will be Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, and best-selling author Tom Wolfe is lined up to be keynote speaker.

Last but not least, on hand to receive the 2007 Barbara Olson Award for Excellence & Independence in Journalism will be Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Charles Krauthammer, considered by many of his peers to be "the most influential commentator in America" today.

Invisible soldiers

The global war on terrorism is not your father's or grandfather's war. Thus, says CIA Director Michael V. Hayden, U.S. military manpower like that stationed in Iraq is not nearly as important as the potential intelligence that can be gathered against the enemy.

Speaking to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs last week, Gen. Hayden explained that during the Cold War "the Soviet Union's most deadly forces — its [intercontinental ballistic missiles] and tank armies — were relatively easy to find, but hard to kill. Intelligence was important, but overshadowed by the need for sheer firepower.

"Today, the situation is reversed. We are now in an age in which our primary adversary is easy to kill, but hard to find. So you can understand why so much emphasis in the last six years has been on intelligence."

For those who don't subscribe to cable TV, allow us to confirm that former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV was extremely critical of the Republican Party while appearing with his wife, Valerie Plame, the outed CIA operative, on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" this past weekend.

Not that his criticism of the Republican leadership is surprising, given the couple's "current events" of the past couple of years, not to mention the fact that Mr. Wilson, who has moved with his wife and children to Santa Fe, N.M., recently endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, for president in 2008.

Nevertheless, here is what the outspoken Mr. Wilson said: "I think that this brand that runs the administration and runs the RNC [Republican National Committee] are not real Republicans. They are radicals who have taken the Republican Party and used it as a vehicle to impose their own radical solutions that are not democratic. They are un-American; they are imperial instead of Republican."

Sprinting home

When he was not busy this year advising presidential candidates or conducting political polls, Frank Luntz authored the best-selling book "Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear."

Indeed, Americans are seeing and hearing a lot from Mr. Luntz these pre-primary election days, including passing out performance grades to the various White House wannabes following the presidential debates.

It's not been uncommon for the Washington wordsmith to pass along communication advice to a sitting commander in chief, either. But now it appears Mr. Luntz, who last we knew was a registered Republican, has given up on President Bush.

"I don't want to be on your White House list anymore," Mr. Luntz wrote to Bush White House official Scott R. Arogeti on Friday, after he had received a text copy of the president's speech on fighting global terrorism to the Heritage Foundation. "This is my third attempt to get my name removed. And if the language below is any indication, there are a lot of people who feel like me. This is how you open a speech on global terror — with a pathetic joke?"

Mr. Luntz apparently thought Mr. Bush was a bit too jovial when he began his remarks: "Thanks for the kind introduction. I'm looking forward to working with you for the next 14 months — but you better put on your running shoes, because my spirits are high, my energy level is good and I'm sprinting to the finish line."

Still giving

Washington is home to some of the nation's top philanthropists, but it is Atlanta resident Frank Hanna, chief executive officer of Hanna Capital LLC, who just earned the 2007 William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership, recognizing America's most effective living philanthropists.

Not that Washingtonians will be left out of the prize.

We're told that Mr. Hanna will divide his $250,000 cash award between a Catholic school in Atlanta and the nonprofit Federalist Society, based in Washington and specializing in constitutional and legal issues.

Named for the late U.S. Treasury secretary, the Simon prize will be presented Friday at the annual meeting of the Philanthropy Roundtable, a Washington-based national association of philanthropic families and foundations.